Starship Asterisk*

Orion consists of 7 stars, so the opening line should have read "The belt of Orion holds much more than three stars in a row." Time to put on my pedantic hat. Orion consists of a whole lot more than 7 stars. Orion is a mathematically defined wedge of the universe, which contains dozens of...

Oh noes! HAARP is now turning the clouds colors!

It should probably be noted that only 4 of the galaxies in Stephan's Quintet are interacting with each other. Well, technically, every galaxy we see in this image is interacting with all the others. Do you mean that only four are gravitationally bound into closed orbits about each other? And people...

It should probably be noted that only 4 of the galaxies in Stephan's Quintet are interacting with each other.

We're surrounded by anti-matter? I was wondering where Star Trek would find enough of the stuff to power their warp drives.

owlice wrote:This is a lovely image! Now if only I could get to Maine before sundown tonight, somewhere with clear dark skies so I could see an aurora with mine own eyes...

You think you live far from aurora country? At least you can make it by car if you can avoid the radar guns.

I thought that a planetary nebula was formed at the red giant phase during the transition from hydrogen fusion to helium fusion in the core, not when fusion stopped. I wasn't aware that main sequence core fusion stopped until a large iron core had been created. Nice, deep exposure though. I didn't ...

I was amused to find that for an APOD about Zodiacal Light that the 'Zodiacal light' link in the explanation seems to be dead (well it currently is on my connection and I've tried several times on and off) :!: :o. All the other links are working fine. Remove the fap/ from the URL and it just points...

What immediately struck me about the 1920 editorial was the use of the word “ladled.” If this was how the editorialist was taught science, it’s no wonder he screwed up.

I've never seen Orion outlined like that. Burr, just too chilly for me! Or... b-u-r-p! Too much chile for me! Having lived in Ohio and New England, I'm sure I can tolerate the cold. I'll hate every minute of it (unless there's a ski lift up there—doubtful in a place that's so dry), but I can tolerat...

I was surprised to see it rise on the right, but then I quickly remembered that it was shot from New Zealand. I've visited the southern hemisphere 3 times, and each time the movement of celestial objects throws me for a loop until I stand up and start tracing geometries with my finger and/or tilt my...

The revised version of the image (linked to on the page under the description) is more complete in terms of labels and inclusion of stars, but I would hesitate to call it "more correct." The way an asterism is presented is a matter of choice rather than a matter of accuracy. That was my t...

Why is the remnant galaxy core blue in color?

This second one is more subtle, and looks better IMHO. Good work!

At sunset near the solstice, wouldn't the ecliptic be midway between its highest and lowest positions?

APOD Robot wrote:Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius.

Not even Ceiling Cat?

What does the red wavy line signify? And the yellow half-circle at the 'crest' of the wave? Are the thin light blue lines depicting the Milky Way? I'm sure the wavy red line is the ecliptic. I don't see any yellow half circle or thin blue lines. The Milky Way can be discerned as a sort of wide, rou...

I'm using Internet Explorer 8, all the latest updates, in WinXP. Then you're a sitting duck for any new security holes that open up (and they will). Microsoft has stopped issuing security updates for WinXP, which was the already the least secure operating system to begin with. Internet Explorer is ...

Ann wrote:Quo vadum(?)? Where are we going?

My best guess is "vadimus," but Latin still throws me for a loop.

According to the filter views posted by Geck, the cyan veils are caused by H-alpha. It would be red if the image were in true color (and if our cone cells were sensitive enough), but that is not the image that is posted.

Great! Now all I need is some Internet service that delivers the bandwidth the ISP has shamelessly promised us for years.

I was wondering what NGC 7320 would look like if it were pushed back to be with the other galaxies and calculated that it would be about 20% of its apparent size at that distance. If it were anywhere near the others it would be quickly distorted and probably integrated into its neighbors like a lit...

When two galaxies collide , the stars that compose them usually do not. That's because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up only a small amount of that space. When playing golf, one's opponents often claim that trees (eucalypt, say) are 90% air. This is probably t...

I'll let somebody else answer Beyond's question and instead ponder the fact that Comet Lovejoy is apparently looking down on the only artificial feature on the Earth that is visible from space, except it isn't visible from space (at least not from the Moon and certainly not from the position of Com...

Is that a satellite streak underneath sigma Ophiuchi and off to the right edge?